Coil-up bowling return gutter



June 1, 1965 M. KESSLER 3,186,712

COIL-UP BOWLING RETURN GUTTER Filed May 18, 1962 FIG. I.

FIG. 3. 7 FIG. 2

v I 4 I 4 F G 2 INVENTOR Milfon Kessler ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,186,712 CGE-UF BOWLWG RETURN GUTTER Milton Kessler, 4535 Grove Drive, Youngstown, Ohio Filed May 18, 1962, Ser. No. 195,692 Claims. ((31. 273-51) This invention relates to a bowling alley return gutter such as is used to return a bowling ball to the bowler after it has been thrown, and has for its primary object the provision of a plastic unitary bowling gutter constructed to facilitate transportation and for rapid and economical assembly at the point of use.

Prior art bowling-alleyreturn gutters have commonly been made of wood construction, often of laminated plywood, which is built into place with the bowling alley, usually being nailed into a slot in the wooden frame provided for this purpose. Recently, plastic gutters have been coming into use, which have the advantage of lower installed cost, and particularly freedom from Warping due to moisture, which .is a problem with the wood gutters. Plastic gutters can also be made in long lengths, which minimizes or entirely eliminates the problem of matching joints at the point where two lengths must abut. Such long lengths, however, are expensive to transport, and also may easily be damaged in transportation due to their awkward shape and the diinculty in handling them. Alternatively, of course, short lengths may be used, but this requires very careful matching at the joints which increases the labor cost of installation.

It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the above disadvantages by providing a single full length of plastic guttter capable of being coiled up into a relatively small package for easy transportation, but which can readily be installed by ordinary workmen without the need of special skill, to provide a full-length seamless gutter ofneat appearance and satisfactory construction.

According to the invention, the main gutter element is an extruded straight length of semi-rigid plastic preferably having a slightly arcuate cross section, and provided with continuous engaging means along its two edges for retaining the gutter element when it is snapped into place in the usual wooden channel provided for the purpose. A special interlocking strip is also provided for engaging one side of the gutter in interlocking fashion to retain it in proper position. Due to its flat or nearly fiat crosssection, the gutter strip can be rolled up into a relatively small coil for shipment. In this form, the gutter is not only compact but also not easy to. damage, as the turns of the coils reinforce each other.

The specific nature of the invention, as well as other objects and advantages thereof, will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross section, taken transversely to its length, through a double gutter, showing one element installed and another partly installed;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a part of FIG. 1 showing in more detail the interlocking construction of the gutter fastening means at one side of the gutter strip;

FIG. 3 is a similar enlarged view showing the construction of the other side of the gutter strip and the manner in which it engages the channel;

FIG. 4 is a schematic drawing of a coiled-up length of gutter as it is prepared for shipment;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 55 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing a modified locking arrangement; and

FIG. 7 is a transverse sectional view showing an alternative construction.

The return gutter according to the invention is the straight section of guttering and does not include the curved sections at either end where the ball is started and ultimately received. Referring to FIG. 1, the return gutter 2 is shown installed in a conventional trough provided in standard bowling alley construction, and consisting of three wooden members, 3, 4 andS, of which member 4 constitutes the floor of the structure, while 3 and 5 constitute the side members which define a trough. Member 5 is usually capped With a rail or cap strip 7, which somewhat overhangs the member 5, and

advantage is taken of this feature as will be shown below. The troughs are usually. formed during the construction of the alleys, and the return gutter is subsequently inserted into the trough.

The gutter strip 2 which is made of semi-rigid plastic of any suitable composition, such as polyvinyl plastic,

is initially fabricated as a straight length of material, which may be made quite flat, but is preferably curved in transversecross section as shown in. FIG. 5. For ease in'transportation, it is rolled into a coil as shown in FIG. 4. Typically the strip is about A2. of an inch thick, and although it is sufficiently rigid to be not in the least distorted by even a heavy bowling ball when in use, it is nevertheless sufficiently flexible so that it can readily be rolled up into a coil. In this condition, the compact package is very strong and rugged, and does not require special care in shipment, provided it is reasonably well packaged.

. It will be noted that strip'2 is provided along one side thereof with a generally circular head 8 and along the other side with a similar bead 9, which is however preferably provided with a series of longitudinal ridges 11,

than the bead 8, andcapable of accommodating the bead as shown inFIG. 2. Lip 16 is made sufficiently thick to provide the necessary holding strength, but sufficiently thin so that it can flex when head 8 is inserted into aperture 14 to permit the bead to enter, after which it returns to the normal position shown in FIG. 2, thereby retaining the edge of the gutter strip 2 in place. Alternatively, the bead 8 may be made sufficiently soft and resilient so that it can be forced through the slot.

Installation of the gutter is preferably performed by first marking a line along the inner edge 3a of member 3 to locate the top edge of locking strip 13. The locking strip is, of course, also shipped as a coil, and is sufficiently flexible so that upon removal from the package,

it tends to spring out into a straight line. It is then held in poistion along the line previously drawn on surface 3a, and suitably fastened to member 3, which may be accomplished simply by nailing it to the wooden member as indicated at 18. After locking strip 13 is in place, the bead 8 is inserted into the recess 14, letting the other end lie on top of cap strip 7 as shown on the right in FIG. 1. When the entire length of the strip is in place, the gutter strip is'then pushed into its final position by hand, or this may readily be done by walking along its length from one end to the other. The transverse dimension of the strip is made such that with the standard size of the trough, the strip 2 assumes the proper arcuate configuration as shown in FIG. 1 to serve its function as a return gutter. Due to the configuration thus provided, the gutter is exceedingly strong and rigid 3 and not in the least distorted by the weight of the bowling ball.

FIG. 6 shows an alternative form of locking arrangement for the gutter edge. In this case, instead of knob 8, the gutter edge is provided with barbs 8" and the edges 16" and 17' of aperture 14 are made relatively rigid, and define an entrance slot somewhat narrower than the normal extension of the barbs. It will thus be apparent that as the barbs are forced through the entrance slot into the aperture 14', a locking action is achieved which renders it difiicult to remove the gutter except by the application of considerable force.

The right-hand side of FIG. 3 shows an alternative form of head for the wooden corner, in which the sharp I ridges 12 and 11 are omitted'and a recess 17 is provided to snugly retain head 9 in place. This recess can be readily rabbetted with available woodworking equipment.

It'will be-understood that instead of the arrangement provided with the overhanging cap strip 7 as shown in FIGS, it is only necessary to provide one locking strip as shown in FIG. 1.

Alternatively, in FIG. 7, the construction may be somewhat simplified by making the beads at both edges similar to that shown at 9 in FIG. 3. In this case, in-

,stead of locking strip 13, a simple molding strip 21,

of wood or plastic, may be employed, which-can be in- However, for the most accurate and positive positioning of the gutter, use of the locking strip is preferred.

It will be apparent that the embodiments shown are only exemplary and that various modifications can be made in construction and arrangement within the scope of my invention as defined in the appended claims. I claim: a 1. In combination, a floor-portion and'twoparallel upright straight wooden members defining with said floor stalled similarly to the locking strip. The gutter is then merely pushed into place.

portion a shallow troughhaving two straight side walls, a semi-rigid plastic strip having two longitudinal edge portions and being transversely curved between said edge portions to define a return gutter located in said trough, a locking strip fastened to one of said upright walls and extending longitudinally thereof and having a longitudinal recess, extending along its length, said recess providing a slot having an opening facing the interior of the trough, an enlarged bead on a longitudinal edge of said plastic strip, said head lying in said recess to hold and. position one side of said strip, and means holding the other edge of said strip against the other upright walhsaid plastic gutter strip'being transversely resiliently flexed into a sharper curve than its normal relaxed condition and thereby forcing said bead into engaging relationship with said recess.

2. The invention according to claim 1,'said bead being thicker than the width of said slot.

3. The invention according to claim 2, the material of the locking strip being sufficiently flexible to enable the bead to be forced through the slot into the recess.

4. The invention. according to claim 2, the material of the gutter bead being sufiiciently flexible to enablethe bead to be forced through the slot into the recess.

5. The invention according to claim 1, said means holding the other edge of said strip comprising a retaining ridge protruding inwardly from the second of said upright walls, a second bead extending along the other edge of said strip, and a plurality of sharp-edged ridges extending longitudinally along surface of said second bead, said second bead being in pressure engagement with said retaining ridge.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 332,723 12/85 Mankey 2074 1,562,391 11/25 Vidon 2092.'4

2,140,234 12/38 Lamer 2074 2,189,567 2/40 -Miller 392 2,316,035 4/43 Westrope 2074 2,354,485 7/44 Slaughter.

' 2,971,759 2/61 Blatt' 273 -51 2,986,150 5/61 Torian 2074 X 3,069,165 12/62 Kessler 27351 X DELBERT B. LOWE, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION, A FLOOR PORTION AND TWO PARALLEL UPRIGHT STRAIGHT WOODEN MEMBERS DEFINING WITH SAID FLOOR PORTION A SHALLOW THROUGH HAVING TWO STRAIGHT SIDE WALLS, A SEMI-RIGID PLASTIC STRIP HAVING TWO LONGITUDINAL EDGE PORTIONS AND BEING TRANSVERSELY CURVED BETWEEN SAID EDGE PORTIONS TO DEFINE A RETURN GUTTER LOCATED IN SAID TROUGH, A LOCKING STRIP FASTENED TO ONE OF SAID UPRIGHT WALLS AND EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY THEREOF AND HAVING A LONGITUDINAL RECESS EXTENDING ALONG ITS LENGTH, AND RECESS PROVIDING A SLOT HAVING AN OPENING FACING THE INTERIOR OF THE TROUGH, AN ENLARGED BEAD ON A LONGITUDINAL EDGE OF SAID PLASTIC STRIP, SAID BEAD LYING IN SAID RECESS TO HOLD AND POSITION ONE SIDE OF SAID STRIP, AND MEANS HOLDING THE OTHER EDGE OF SAID STRIP AGAINST THE OTHER UPRIGHT WALL, SAID PLASTIC GUTTER STRIP BEING TRANSVERSELY RESILIENTLY FLEXED INTO A SHARPER CURVE THAN ITS NORMAL RELAXED CONDITION AND THEREBY FORCING SAID BEAD INTO ENGAGING RELATIONSHIP WITH SAID RECESS. 